Bear with me here. I’m not saying Escape from New York is a good movie. It most definitely is not. But it is a fun movie. Like Highlander, it would benefit hugely from a remake. Many of the special effects are risible. Some of the casting decisions are worse than that. Donald Pleasance (surely one of the better actors in the film) is sadly miscast as the President of the United States. Adrienne Barbeau brings her chest to the movie. The soundtrack (done by Carpenter) is porn-movie horrible.
And yet…somehow…it still manages to catch your interest and carry you through a surprisingly compelling last half hour as time ticks down on Snake and he battles one ’70s cliched villain after another.
Ridley Scott should stop wasting his time trying to do something serious and remake this movie in San Francisco. Snake! Snake! Snake! (Criterion – The Postapocalyptic Sci-Fi Collection)